Pawnee Comfort
by AmberMX
Summary: It might have been inevitable, really. Two lone warriors, drawn to each other, with nothing but each other. There's a fine line between friendship and something else and it's hard to tell when the two men cross it for the first time.


**AN:** This is more or less the first complete work I've written in a few months and me trying to get back into fanfic after a few years of hiatus... kindly leave feedback :3

Blood. There's blood on Aiden's hands and he can't wash it off.

Lena is dead. Clara is dead. Maurice might be dead, he can't be sure. Damien and Quinn are dead, Rushmore is dead, fuck, half the people he's met over the past year are dead. Not that most of them didn't deserve it, that's not it, they had it coming, but still.

There's blood on Aiden's hands and he can't wash it off. There's guilt on his shoulders and he refuses to acknowledge it. Tries to ignore how responsible he feels. Successfully so, usually.

Usually.

The state he's in when he can't ignore it anymore would be fit to make anyone fear for him, but it's not like anyone's around to witness it. T-Bone has gone back into hiding, running the occasional job and otherwise laying low. There's enough clues in Chicago to prove that Jordi's business is still flourishing, but seeing as he hasn't made another attempt to interfere with Aiden's operations, he has opted not to investigate them. And Clara–

Aiden prefers not to think about her if he can avoid it. Meaning he thinks about her all the time because how could he ignore it, ignore how much he misses her, ignore the very obvious lack of Clara every waking minute. It's been two years since Lena's death and he's nowhere near over it, he doubts he'll get over his failure to save Clara any time soon.

Clara's dead and being The Vigilante is one hell of a lonely role to play. It's in the job description.

It's not like he's completely isolated, of course. Hiding or not, T-Bone is usually close enough that a phone call and an hour on the freeway are enough for them to meet up.

It had taken Aiden months to as much as think of talking to the hacker again and even longer to finally decide to locate and contact him.

T-Bone – Raymond, Aiden reminds himself, the man's name is Raymond –, he understands. He listens to Aiden curse the world in general and Chicago in particular, unperturbed by both sudden outbursts of anger and sudden fits of guilt. He lets the vigilante blow off steam and then he'll pull him into a bear hug for a minute or so before heading into the kitchen of whichever place he's staying in at the time and make them both some coffee.

Ah, yes – Raymond's hugs. The first time, Aiden almost shot the man acting on his reflexes and he still stiffens for a moment every time the former programmer hugs him. It does feel surprisingly good, though (there's probably some biological reason for it, Aiden muses) and just like their meetings have become a regular thing, the hugs have, too. It's almost like a ritual – the coffee, the occasional hug, the mutual silence knowing that the other reminisces the same memories oneself does. It's their own way of grieving, of coping.

Raymond never comments on news about The Vigilante and Aiden never brings it up. He's got a feeling the older man silently approves of what he does, but either way, they don't talk about it. Still, whenever Aiden shows up to one of their somewhat-regular meetings, T-Bone seems to sense if something troubles him, be it an especially gruesome case, a criminal still on the run or something else. He appears to have mastered the skill of reading in Aiden's expressionless face and he reads it like an open book.

Aiden Pearce may have blood on his hands, guilt on his shoulders and demons in his footsteps but he also has Raymond Kenney to help him fight those demons.

The Vigilante may hide behind a mask, but when he cries, T-Bone lets him cry on his shoulder.

There's a fine line between friendship and something else and it's hard to tell when the two men cross it for the first time. But at some point, visiting T-Bone turns into spending the night at his place. At some point, "T-Bone" becomes "Raymond" and then becomes "Ray". At some point, mutual respect and shared grievance turn into affection. There's a fine line between friendship and something more and by the time Aiden finally comes to realise this, he's not only overstepped it, he's so far past it he can't even tell when he crossed it. It's not that he's in love. It's not that Ray's in love. It's just that he's come to care about T-Bone in a wholly different way and even though they don't really mention it, Ray lets him know he feels the same.

It might have been inevitable, really. Two lone warriors, drawn to each other, with nothing but each other. When they finally admit it to each other, they just acknowledge what has been for months. For Aiden Pearce, Chicago has turned into a battlefield but every warrior needs a little peace every once in a while.

Two men who could not be more different. Two histories, two plot lines, touching at some point… and eventually becoming one.


End file.
